


Reach

by rexrerezzed



Series: Gaia [1]
Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, Injury, Introspection, Non-Human Humanoids, Post-Tron: Legacy, Sea of Simulation, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29735160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexrerezzed/pseuds/rexrerezzed
Summary: What lies at the bottom of the Sea of Simulation?Rinzler finds out.
Series: Gaia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185446
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	Reach

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of my earliest Tron fic wips, I started it last November, and I'm really excited that I'm finally able to share it with yall! This fic also this going to kick off a post-canon fic series I'm very excited to share with you guys! :D
> 
> This part one in a duology of fics (within the series mentioned before) that I’ve named S.o.S (Sea of Simulation).  
> \---  
> Be weary, I wasn't sure how to tag this but the main character does get hurt quite a bit. Lots of things happen that could result in injury, but the injuries aren't described too much in this fic.  
> \---  
> This takes place immediately as Legacy ends.  
> Enjoy!  
> Currently un-beta read, so all errors are my own.

Where was he? 

_ Falling _ , he thinks, before slamming hard into and through the new surface below him. A shock of energy courses through him violently as he feels himself plunge into the unknown.

It’s dark, then blinding bright all at once, then dark again.

He knew where he was. He couldn’t see anything through his visor; everything was the purest black, save for some hazy white in his periphery. The tall pillars of unfamiliar light surrounding him a moment ago seemed to be gone with the flash. He doesn’t know where they went. Maybe something was interfering with his visual input, and the pillars were still there and the blindness could just be a signal to his core code that this was indeed the end. 

The Sea of Simulation was unwelcoming to programs, especially unwelcoming to any who were not ‘at home’ in the system. Unwanted code was corroded by the Sea as part of the Grid’s natural cleansing process, he knew that. He’d been here since _ the very beginning _ , of course he’d already have known that. 

He knew he was going to be eaten by the Sea.

Flynn had told him he was essential to the safety of this Grid. But the Sea was going to break into him whole like he was like any other piece of unwanted debris, he could feel it. There was something crawling onto— into?— him, tracing his circuits, suit, and something twinged in his gut. 

He wanted to wave it off as guilt. For what? He wasn’t sure. He shouldn’t feel guilty for something he had no control over, the time he spent with circuits and hands that weren’t his own, right?

He didn’t know.

Time passed differently here. Everywhere he looked was the same, and after a long while, he ran out of things to look for and stopped looking… there didn’t seem to be a point in doing so. He hated being alone with his thoughts, hated everything from the blur of the past hundreds of cycles coming back to him slowly. He could remember two discs in his grip, circuits in colors that weren’t his own, orange flashes,  _ gold.  _ He saw crossroads, lights, scattered voxels ( _ everywhere _ ), their-  _ his  _ code being drawn out of him. A growl. He saw blood. U̷s̷e̷r̷.̷.̷.̷.

Users. Oh,  _ Users _ , he was all alone. He had betrayed anyone and everyone he’d ever stood for, and he couldn’t have done anything about it.

He couldn’t do anything about it now either. The dark let his thoughts consume him, and could have sworn his remorse was coming to get him, like his nightmares would reach out and grab him.

He thought he could feel a hand on the small of his back. Another at his shoulder. One more at his hip. A grip at his ankle. Another. Another.

There was some sort of murmuring in a language he couldn’t fully comprehend, but perhaps that was a side effect of the Sea eating into his code. Was that what this was? The Sea swallowing him whole? Taking the form of hands, because that’s all he could fathom right now?

The want to have the hands of everyone he ever cared about to pull him out of this doom was immeasurable. Yori, Flynn, Able, Beck, Shaddox, Ram,  _ glitch— anyone.  _

Rinzler wanted to do nothing more than claw off his helmet, face someone, and  _ speak _ . Speak, for the first time in cycles, that he was sorry and he could’ve done better and that he knows he failed as a system monitor and succeeded too well as the primary enforcer. But there was no one here. 

He was alone. 

He always was, and Clu always made sure of that.

The thought of that name made his voxels squirm. He hated this. But there was nothing left to do now; he had nowhere to go, no one to go to.

He couldn’t see any light anymore. Every once in a while, as he let himself drift further and further, he thought he saw brief flashes of circuits by his side. Rinzler didn’t let himself believe anyone would come for him. 

The hands were just him wishing, he told himself feebly. They couldn’t be real.

After some waiting, he could feel a shard of armor dislodge from his chestplate and float off above him. He watched the piece as it grew smaller and smaller and eventually disappeared into the black. Rinzler wondered if that’s what he looked like from over the Sea. Would anyone be able to see him at all?

The hands on him gripped suddenly, a strange and uncomfortable surge of energy shocking through his shell. A wild series of pings sounded within his mind—

[ DANGER. ]

[  _ DANGER.  _ ]

[  **_DANGER._ ** ]

Rinzler tries to flail, to turn and see what was happening, but the grasps on him were much too strong for him to fight against. He doesn't have to strain much longer when a pair of eyes appear in the center of his vision, and just below it, a row of gleaming pointed  _ teeth.  _ The irises were bright, and felt like they were burning into his own, despite the visor shielding him. The eyes belong to figures, gaunt silhouettes he could make out only because of the swirling circuits outlining them. 

There was one set of fangs for every pair of eyes, some in feral grins, others shaped in curious ‘oh’s’. They surrounded him, he couldn’t count them if he tried, and they pulled in close,  _ too close.  _

Rinzler knew the grasps on him tightened as he struggled, he knew this was it. The Sea of Simulation was going to consume him, that he knew, but he just didn’t know that was going to be  _ literal _ . 

_ Users… This is the end. I hope I served you well. _

The whispering around him shifted as he felt himself…  _ lifted.  _

Tucked within the strange creatures’ grip, Rinzler felt himself pulled up, gently but hastily. Another plate fell off his body, his thigh this time, and got drawn away into the current as they moved. As the huddle began to swim, Rinzler almost thought he saw… spiney formations protrude from his captors’ torso, where one would expect a disc to be. The spines were thin and lined the figures, tracing their circuits down their back to where there was a singular appendage where there  _ should be a pair of legs _ . The spine split into two at the end of the appendage in what Rinzler could only describe as  _ wings _ . 

In unison, the figures pushed with these wings, the appendage. In one strong, synchronised stroke, he felt the Sea rush down around him. 

They were  _ rising. _

Rinzler didn’t know what was happening. This wasn’t the comfort he wanted but he knew the thrum of energy pulsating off the beings around him was the closest he had to comfort right now. It was warm and the murmur from the figures was getting louder, chanting almost, nearly lulling him into the reboot he so desperately wanted but knew he couldn’t have if he was to survive. 

The murmurs were still in the incomprehensible tongue, but they took no notice in Rinzler’s confusion and incanted anyway. 

The Sea had taken most of his armor at this point; he could feel the burn of the corrosion begin to trail over his old circuits, now revealed. The creatures carrying him paid no mind to the new source of light. They only seemed to swim up faster like they could feel his pain as it grew. 

His circuits-- at least, the ones that he could see in the blur as they advanced-- were shining _blue_ and were blooming into cuboid patterns where the Sea bit him, where the Sea thought he was weakest. Rinzler wanted to grimace, but couldn’t as the beings’ grip was ironclad. He should be thankful for that despite the pain, it was the only thing keeping him from drowning as he was before.

His circuits stung worse than Rinzler had ever wanted to experience. Just as Rinzler was about to thank the Users that the Sea hadn’t reached his face yet because of his helmet, one of the creatures slammed a hand onto his visor. With a sharp jerk down, the creature’s  _ claws  _ dug into the helmet and pulled three wide gashes in the protection. Rinzler wanted to  _ scream _ as the Sea rushed to his face, his scar, and his vision began to go staticky once more. 

One pair of eyes, flaring white, stared down at him as he struggled. He felt choked by the look alone, but the creature simply bowed their head before readying his body for one last heave.

A single ping rang clearly through his mind, drowning out the blinding pain filling his head.

**_[ R E A C H. ]_ **

With one final push, the creatures shove his body up and Tron rushed upwards, clawing at the light getting closer and closer with each tick. He broke the surface like lightning, jolting out of the Sea, energy crackling in the air. His helmet was shattered and lost in the current as he rose, and his suit was in tatters on his form. The bare circuits over his chest and arms burn from the loss of the acidic touch, but there’s immeasurable relief sweeping through him as Tron hauls himself onto the hot black sand of the shore. 

Collapsing onto his knees and allowing his body to follow and fall onto his front, Tron pulled his arms near his head, scraping sand through his fingers as fatigue slowly made his limbs go numb. 

The Sea creatures and their jarring eyes faded to the back of his memory as he let the sound of the waves lull him into a soft reboot.

With the Grid under him once more, Tron felt safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a tronblr post from a couple years ago and the piece of artwork by Nocek (on tumblr) on said post! For some reason my links aren't working but this is the post--  
> https://nocek.tumblr.com/post/166229869139/sueslayer-nocek-replied-to-your-post-new
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @ fulcrvm (main) and @ quorras (tron sb)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
